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I want to provide you with some background on the UNNC Jefferson Park Ad-Hoc Committee so you understand why it was formed and what its goals are.

Background

As previously reported, about half of Jefferson Park was designated as a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone by the City of Los Angeles in June of 2011.
Structures in the HPOZ are designated as Contributors, Contributor-Altered, or Non-contributors.

CORRECTION: The Jefferson Park HPOZ is about 42% of Jefferson Park. The HPOZ is from Adams to Exposition from the east side of Arlington to the west side of 7th Ave, and from Adams to the south side of Jefferson between Arlington and Western.

Jefferson Park is now a city Historic Preservation Overlay Zone! The city council passed the final motion on June 28, 2011, and the mayor signed it promptly. The HPOZ is now in place. Thanks to everyone who helped get the word out and gather community support. Our outreach efforts and high turn-out at our public meetings were huge successes for our community. Along with our great architectural heritage, Jefferson Park is already being noted as having one of the most inclusive HPOZs in the City with one of the strongest cultural history contexts.

Fire Service Day is May 14th, and our own Fire Station#34 puts on a great event, in partnership with United Neighborhoods Neighborhood Council. There will be free rides and jumpers for the kids, fire fighting demonstrations including the Jaws-of-Life, music and a performance by American Indian dancers, and a variety of free food and food vendors. Fire Station #34 is at 3661 S. 7th Ave. The event runs from 10 am to 4pm!

1. The next step in the adoption of the Jefferson Park Historic Overlay Zone is a Cultural Heritage Commission public hearing (Agenda - PDF). This Thursday, May 5th, they will be reviewing the accuracy of the Historic Resources Survey, reviewing that the proposed boundaries are correct, and reviewing that the proposed Jefferson Park HPOZ meets all the technical criteria. The hearing is at 10:00 a.m., City Hall, 200 North Spring St, Room 1010. The latest Jefferson Park Historic Preservation Plan draft is May 2011 and can be found here.

2. The citywide HPOZ conference is this Saturday, May 7th, and will be held at McCarty Memorial Church at 4101 W. Adams Blvd. As you may know we have multiple HPOZs in our area. Attendees will be taking walking tours of the West Adams Terrace HPOZ and the proposed Jefferson Park HPOZ. There will be updates on all 27 HPOZ around the city. Breakout sessions will include an "HPOZ 101" introduction on the basics of HPOZs for homeowners and residents. The cost for the conference is $20, which includes continental breakfast and lunch. To learn more, please visit http://laconservancy.org/neighborhoods/ . To register online click here and scroll down or contact Flora Chou at (213) 430-4211. (Conference Flyer as a PDF) The conference is from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.

Below is a short report on the City hearing last night at 6th Ave. Elementary School about our proposed HPOZ:

1.Who was there: Sixty to eighty of our neighbors attended the meeting (a great turn-out!!!), as well as our Neighborhood Council President Stevie Stern and Sylvia Lacey from Councilman Wesson’s office (thank you to both for supporting our efforts).

2.What was said: The City representatives gave a short general presentation about HPOZs. The City reps then asked for statements from the community about the proposed Jefferson Park HPOZ.

- They heard many people express STRONG support for the preservation of the cultural, social, and architectural history of Jefferson Park through approval of the proposed HPOZ.

- One person spoke that did not support the HPOZ.

- There were recommendations for the inclusion of several properties as contributing to the HPOZ that were previously not considered contributing.

There were about 120 residents at the December 7 HPOZ workshop. It was standing room only at the back of the room, and the city planner had to give the full one hour presentation a second time to accommodate the overflow crowd.